Claims to history: Commemorating progress in Oklahoma Territory, 1989--2007

An examination of forty monuments in Oklahoma Territory reveals a regional discursive formation (RDF) centered around frontier themes, especially the vital historical character associated with the region's White-settler pioneers. The RDF concept was initially presented in 1996 by geographer Richard Peet, and shows that the political and cultural messages encoded within regional monuments will ideologically support the contemporary regulatory regime. Patterns in Oklahoma Territory's contemporary monuments suggest a narrative of development built on the ideologies of the progressive movement as presented by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. This progressivist narrative draws strength from the U.S. frontier myth which served as validation for U.S. expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. According to Roosevelt (and others), the U.S. frontier---regardless of location---was a zone of cultural mixing in which new leaders would emerge from the struggle with a more "savage" frontier environment. Those pioneers who thrived on the frontier would emerge as a new generation of leaders capable of ushering in "civilization".;In Oklahoma's commemorative landscape, the pioneer spirit is extended as the region's vital historical character, serving as a basis for success in each major stage of development towards statehood. To this end, monuments present a historical timeline focused on a series of regulatory stages towards development, including "The Era of the Cattle Trails", "The Era of the Great Ranches", "The Era of the Land Rush", "The Era of Agriculture", and "The Era of Oil Exploration". The success of each period, and ultimately contemporary prosperity, is contributed to a regional spiritual legacy extending forward from Oklahoma's pioneer era. Regional Native Americans have recognized this discursive formation, responding with a narrative of Native American history and culture designed specifically to counter the region's narrative of progress.